


Save, But Don't Reset

by Qwerty_2poynt0



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Flavor Text Narrator Chara, Gen, Narrator Chara, sassy! Frisk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 20:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5553752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty_2poynt0/pseuds/Qwerty_2poynt0
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're not too sure about them, but you think you have a friend. They're rude, obnoxious, and probably kinda dangerous, but you can handle them. As they would say, seeing such a challenge fills you with Determination. (Did you mention they're a pretentious rambler?)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Ruins

   You're not too sure about them, but you think you have a friend. They somehow force you to say their name instead of your own whenever you introduce yourself and they're actually kind of annoying, but you ~~like~~ tolerate them well enough. Especially since you don't have to look at them for them to know how much you hate their prompting stunts. They said such stupidly dramatic things sometimes like, '*the rustling leaves give you Determination'. What does that even mean?!?! They even suggested you flirt with Toriel! After they told you to call her Mom! Seriously! Like you said earlier, they don't seem to care about your name or notifying others of said name, so you don't bother telling them what it actually is.

   But sometimes, they're really helpful. They point things out, but they don't spoil good puzzles for you. Even if you asked them a million times how to get through the ruins when you kept... you think you might've died, but you're not entirely sure. You keep 'resetting' to your last 'save point' as they call it, (those parts where they start preaching about Determination like it has that capital letter at the beginning) and they seem hell bent on sticking with you and getting you to finish this. They keep urging you to ask Toriel how to leave, but after what she told you back in the basement you don't know why you would want to. You suppose the ruins could get old at some point, but there's nothing wrong with them. There's the Spider Bake Sale, all the Froggits to talk to, the Whimsums are a little tough, but they're a welcome challenge, since you finally managed to get through all the puzzles, and Napstablook! You hope he visits often. He seems nice, even if he is a bit... emotional.

   You snuggle up in the sheets of your new bed and drift off with a stomach full of butterscotch cinnamon pie and-

   CHARA PLEASE, WAKE UP!

   The voice is faint, but you can tell they're screaming their throat ragged.

   YOU ARE THE FUTURE OF HUMANS AND MONSTERS!

   What does it mean?

   Before you can dwell on the dream, you snap awake. You get this unbelievable sense of distress, but it's definitely not coming from you. You concentrate on your friend.

   "What's wrong?", you ask.

   *I... I... told you to wake up! You can't sleep now, we have to go!

   You grumble and flop back down on the bed. There is no way you are entertaining their shenanigans right now. They even called you by their name! You guess it would be easier for them to address you if you just told them your name, but you don't feel as magnanimous as usual at the moment.

   "I'm going back to sleep.", you mumble.

   *NO, DON'T I'LL HAVE THAT DREAM AGAIN!

   "... What do you mean."

   *I um... had a nightmare and I have to sleep when you sleep so...

   "Then how could you have woken me up?"

   They're silent for a few seconds. Your curiosity gets the better of you and you decide to wait them out rather than force them to finish with a half-baked answer.

   *Just... don't go to sleep again. We still have things to do, anyway, and I don't like that dream.

   "What do we have to do? There's not much goings-on in the ruins."

   *That's why we need to leave, stupid!

   Not this again.

   "No."

   *Why?

   "Mom's nice and-"

   *Don't call her that.

   Now things were getting interesting.

   "Why? You told me to."

   *Just don't. Anyway, this place is small. Believe me, I know.

   How did they know? You didn't like their first answer, so you decide not to bother asking this one.

   *And Toriel's... sense of humor grates on the nerves after about three bad jokes about snails.

   "Okay, so her Joke book was terrible, but what does that have to do with staying?"

   *I don't want to stay here, what don't you get about that?!

   "I get that you don't want to stay, but you can leave anytime and I don't get _why_ you're so opposed to living here in the first place!"

   *You wanna know why? Fine. We've already been through everything, Napstablook is kind of annoying, so are the Froggits and Whimsums, you keep tossing money into cobwebs to get who-knows-what from mysterious arachnids that just need to be squashed, I've already mentioned Toriel, and I'M BOOORRED!

   "Then Leeeaave!"

   *I caaann't

   "Why not?", you say dropping the mimicking gag, once again letting your curiosity take over.

   *Because of reasons, and that's all you're getting out of me until we get out of here!

   Even though you can't see them, you decide to glare anyway. Your previous tactics haven't been working, so you decide that giving in might be the best way to go. For now.

   "... Fine. But I don't understand why we need to get out of here and to this 'surface' place so badly, and I'm not finishing the journey up there until you explain."

   *Oh good grief.

   *You seriously don't know?

   "No, should I?"

   *As far as I know, YES!

   "Well, it doesn't matter, maybe I'll figure it out when we get there, since aparently  _SOMEBODY_ is bad at giving answers!"

   *Wait... You're actually going to leave?

   "Yeah... I mean... maybe. I just... I'm curious is all."

   *Good. Since you've explored every inch of this place, we can leave without you going bonkers over whatever you might not have done. Come on, up and at 'em... you.

   "Frisk."

   *Right, whatever. Let's go!

   You hop out of bed and take one last look at your room before shutting the door and going downstairs to the basement, where you had attempted to leave a few minutes ago. Toriel's there at the door. You start to regret this decision immediately.


	2. Snowdin

   You're kind of bummed about it, but you have a friend. On the bright side, you have other friends, so they're not the only person you have to talk to. The only problem is, all of said friends, are. SCARY! Toriel is really good at fire magic, Sans can sneak up on you and appears clear out of nowhere! Papyrus has that special attack that (sorry Papyrus) chills you to the bone, and ALL the other monsters are seriously dangerous and actually kind of frustrating. Chara certainly doesn't help. Their prompts get more and more ridiculous, you swear. What's wrong with Jerry, anyway? The only thing stopping you from choking them is your curiosity about what the suggestions will do. (that and they don't have anything to choke)

   *Can't you ever get through anything without trying out every suggestion ever?| They grumble after Sans leaves you at Grillby's. You think about what Sans told you and hope Papyrus isn't talking to who you think he's talking to.

   "Why else would you give them if you don't want me to try them out?"

   *Because... there's nothing else to do?| They say as if it's obvious.

   "There's plenty to do, like leaving me alone and getting to the surface on your own."

   *Oh. My. Gosh! What do you not get about BODY SHARING!?

   "That's another thing, you promised you'd answer my questions about the things you know."

   *I never made such a promise.

   "Then I'll just have to stay at the hotel and live in Snowdin."

   *WHAT? SERIOUSLY?!

   "Oh, I'm very serious. This place is quite nice, and I like Papyrus and Sans and Grillby's is filled with interesting people."

   *Papyrus is an annoying, vain idiot, Sans is way too lazy to care about anything and makes worse puns than Toriel, and Grillby's is full of degenerates and empty-headed, ramblers.

   You roll your eyes. If he had any eyes to do so, you get the feeling Grillby would be looking at you strangely.

   "Well, if you wanna move on so badly, you're gonna have to answer my questions."

   *... Long ago, two races ruled over Earth: HUMANS and MONSTERS.

   "What does this have to do with-"

   *I'm trying to answer your dumb questions, geez!

   "My question was about the whole body-sharing whatever, what do humans and monsters have to do with it?"

   *I'm getting to that! Don't you like having all the tiny details?

   You decide not to argue with them, since they did start talking anyway.

   "Fine, tell me about the humans and monsters."

   *One day, war broke out between the two races.

   *After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell.

   "What? Why would they do that?"

   *Because they're horrible. They defeated the monsters and they decided to be horrible! Can we get out of here for the rest of the story, the degenerates and ramblers are starting to stare.

   "Oh, okay, right."

   You hop off the stool and pay Grillby for your food. You think he smiles at you. Once you're outside, you turn the corner and sit on the edge of the river.

   "Continue.", you say. They take a deep breath, which you know because you do as well. Body sharing sure was strange.

   *Many years later, at MT. EBOTT in... 201X or something

   *Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.

   As you stare at the water, waiting for them to say more, you notice images. A cave, a vine, a drop. A bed of... yellow flowers. Your eyes grow wide.

   "So I fell down here?"

   *...

   "Let me guess, 'Of course, isn't that obvious'?"

   *Yeah, sure.

   "So, why are you here?"

   *Because I'm dead, and you have an insane amount of Determination.

   There was that word again. But...

   "... _What?"_

   *I don't know! You called out to me or something, and now we're here! So I have to deal with your sugary personality!

   "Well, at least I'm not the only one fed up with body-sharing within a few hours!"

   *I think it's been, like, a day already.

   "Whatever, that's not the point. How did you die?"

   *I thought your questions were about the surface.

   "Well, now I'm curious about you."

   *Alright then, since you love making backhanded deals so much, I'm not telling you about myself 'til we finish, and if we don't get to waterfall, I'm not answering any more questions!

   "Aww, no fair!"

   *Oh, but it is!

   "Is not!"

   *Is too!

   "Is not!"

   You two continue like this for a while before you break down laughing. Surprisingly, they laugh too. It sounds kind of... foreign. Like they're trying to do something they've never done before. A tinge of sadness runs through your soul. You're not sure where it came from. Once you get over it, you walk deeper into the cavernous underground.


	3. Waterfall

   You don't particularly like it, but you have a friend. They've been more and more cryptic about themselves as time has passed, but they still get on your nerves with some of the stupid things they say. You don't care what they think, that mouse is not getting that cheese out of the crystal no matter how determined it is. Oh, sorry, 'Determined'. Your usual cherub-like demeanor was slowly beginning to wane. Though, that was the least of your worries. This Undyne person was seriously scaring you, considering she'd tried to kill you like, four times already. You're ruminating on these things at Napstablook's after he... attempted to give you lunch. The two (three, technically) of you are lying on the floor, feeling like garbage. You don't know how it happened, but you're suddenly surrounded by stars and the wavering fabric of the universe. (You also make a mental note that your friend's wordiness is starting to rub off on you. You haven't decided how you feel about this yet.)

   *Hey

   "Wh-"

   *SHH

   *Do you want him to think you're some weirdo who talks to yourself?

   You lower your voice.

   "Well what's your suggestion, all-knowing narrator of my memorable life?"

   *I don't know, try.... thinking out loud, it's what I do!

   "What does that even mean?"

   *Just try it you idiot!

   "Fine, fine..."

   You wonder what thinking out loud is supposed to even mean as Napstablook continues to lie there silently.... across from.... above? You're not entirely sure what to call his position relative to yours, but whatever. Thinking out loud... You're still kind of hungry, but then again, you've really got no reason to eat anything. You wonder what happened to Napstablook's cousin-

   *HELLLOOOOOO!

   'OKAY, OKAY, I'M SORRY! Stop shouting at me.'

   *Hey, you did it!

   "Huh?"

   *Nooooooo

   *Just now, you were thinking out loud!

   'Like.... this?'

   *Yes! Perfect!

   'You know, I'm pretty sure that's the first time you've ever said that.'

   *It is not.

   'Is too.'

   *Is not

   'Is too.'

   This goes on for a while before they force you to shut up somehow.

   *Whatever! The point is, you need to get what's so important about moving on and getting out of here.

   'Why do you never wanna stay in the same place?'

   *Why are you so curious?

   'That's a stupid question. I wanna know _why_.'

   *Why what?

   'Exactly! Why, What, When, How, I need to know! What's so hard to understand about that.'

   *Things! Things and Reasons and Places and Times and Ways! And that's my answer!

   You groan and sense Napstablook shift.

   "What's wrong? A- am I bothering you?"

   "No, no," you crane your neck to look over at him as the galaxies waver, "I just... um, got poked by a rough piece of wood, no problem!"

   "O-oh... okay............"

   Empty space encased the two of you once again.

   *Besides, we have more important things to think and talk about than your questions.

   *Like how on Earth we're going to beat Undyne.

   'We could always just convince her not to fight. You know, like we've been doing? .... Oh geez, when did I start referring to us as 'we'? And 'us'?'

   *Don't know, don't care.

   *And you can't possibly think that Undyne is going to agree to spare you. She's not nearly as soft as all the other monsters are. The best you could probably do is flee and try your best not to get caught before you find a good enough hiding spot.

   'We'll see about that, now won't we?'

   *I guess we will.

   'Will you at least answer the questions about the surface?'

   *Sure, but I don't know how you can't even remember it yourself. You had to have come down here somehow, right?

   'Yeah, but didn't I fall?'

   *Yes, but why the heck would you climb a mountain that was rumored nobody would come down from?

   'Why would you?'

   *Nope.

   *You said your questions would be about the surface this time. I'm only answering questions having to do with the surface.

   'Oh, fine.'

   'Well, for starters, are there things besides humans up there?'

   *Of course. There's fish and birds and dogs and rabbits and-

   'That sounds a whole lot like the monsters.'

   *Exactly. The monsters share some of the qualities with the animals, like that lady who ran the shop in Snowdin. She had long ears and fur and paws just like a rabbit.

   'What about Sans and Papyrus? Do they share qualities with any surface animals?'

   *No! _What? **NO!**_

   *If anything, those two are probably the closest thing to humans you're gonna find down here.

   *Well... aside from the 'being horrible and awful in every single way' thing.

   *They're just annoying.

   It took you two seconds to realize they were talking about Papyrus and Sans when they said 'They're just annoying.'.

   'What's so terrible about humans, anyway?'

   *What's good about them?

   *They attack all the monsters without any warning or prompting, they seal them underground because killing the majority of them wasn't enough, they destroy nature, they can't even bother to be polite to other humans most of the time, and they KILLED HIM!

   Tears sting at your eyes, but it has nothing to do with anything you're feeling. If anything, you're incredibly confused.

   'Chara...'

   *Any other questions?

   They don't sound right. You want to know who 'HIM' is, but you don't want to make them sad. They may be annoying, obnoxious, and a pretentious rambler, but they're still your friend.

   '... So these are stars.', you mumble, turning your head to take in all the colors and light.

   *Not like any I've seen before.

   'What do you mean?'

   *Humans live in huge cities that have way too much light, and all the light on the ground blocks the light in the sky at night.

   'What about the day? What are days like?'

   *That usually depends on the weather. If the sky is overcast, everything looks grayer, more detached. Like you're watching things pass by. On sunny days, depending on the season, the temperature can be scorching and make you wanna swim through the biggest stream in the world and gulp down as much soda and popsicles as you can before falling down in the shade and checking for sunburn.

   *That's summer, and that's when all the plants are at their biggest and brightest!... Well, except for special ones that bloom in other seasons. Like spring.

   *In most places, spring is wet and warm and alive. As in _alive_ , alive. Things start moving and growing and changing and becoming beautiful. And there's usually a good thunderstorm that can last the whole night at least once. It shakes houses and echoes off the mountain while rain pours down in buckets, going every which-way with the wind. It can sting, it can freeze, and it always soaks you to the bone!

   *If it's sunny, the sun is bright and inviting, and colors everything, absolutely everything, with this wonderful light that makes the world seem bright and saturated. The animals go about doing whatever they like, and there's sound and warm breezes, and even some cool ones for when the temprature isn't scorching, so much as a sort of all-encompassing heat.

   You noticed as you looked into the stars that images began appearing. All the things Chara is describing are bleeding into view. The sun, the grass, various plants and animals, thunder, lightning, all the places and things you feel like you should've remembered, but for some reason can't. You don't really care about your memories anyway, what Chara's telling you is a million times better than anything you could've experienced up there yourself.

   *In fall the trees look amazing! All the leaves turn sunny colors, even though the air starts to get chillier. The wind feels whole and can either whisper at your skin or blow all of your hair back, tangling all the prettiest leaves into it. Some plants start to seed so their little babies can get everything they need to germinate during the winter when the snow protects them from all the freezing temperatures above ground. Once all the leaves have fallen off the trees, they've gotten to the ground and start turning brown and craggly, absolutely perfect for stomping on and setting on fire!

   'Fire?!'

   *Well, yeah! People would do that sorta thing all the time. They'd get a huge pile of leaves and toss a match into it and watch the fire roar and dissipate, leaving all the dark ashes behind.

   The images you're seeing are a lot less unsettling than you thought they'd be. The flame is bright and warm, almost alive, like the leaves were having one last day in the sun... or the center of it. When they became embers and ash, it was like a richly saturated last testament... it was actually kind of nice, if you looked at it that way.

   *Then, the trees would be bare, except for the evergreens like junipers and pine trees. There's a story about why that is, but it's kinda boring. Not nearly as interesting as the hard, blustery winds that come at you from nowhere. It's always surprising and feels wonderful on your face and arms, especially if the air is humid. But everyone wears a coat to make sure they don't get hypothermia or something.

   'Hypo-what?'

   *Something that happens when you're too cold. Unlike the other seasons, winter's not very safe to be outside in for more than about two hours max. Unless it's unseasonably warmer than usual. The snow can either loiter around the bottom of grass blades or get up to somewhere around five feet! If it's too cold outside, it's always warm and orange-ish brown inside of houses. Winter also has Christmas!

   'I thought Christmas was a monster thing.'

   *It was for both the races before the war. Now neither knows the other has it.

   'I bet the monsters don't know about the seasons, do they?'

   *Nope. But there manages to be life down here anyway. I don't get it. There's not even a sun, so how could flowers grow? There aren't any clouds, so how could Snowdin be.... SNOWdin. I don't see any farms, so I have no idea how anybody gets their food, and... their 'stars'... they make me wanna cry... THESE are stars!

   Your arms gesture up to the galaxies and stars surrounding you. You suspect Chara is to blame for that one.

   *I've never gotten to see stars like this before, but at least I've seen the real ones from the surface... and Onion-San should have all the room in the world to swim with his friends... her friends...? There are HUGE oceans on the surface that are just waiting for all of them, mountains and trees that everyone in the underground should climb, rivers to swim in, grass to roll through, sunrises to watch, DOES ANYONE BUT ME EVEN KNOW WHAT THE MOON IS?!

   '... Apparently not. What's that?'

   *IT- it's something that goes around the Earth. It changes every night to be bigger and smaller and then bigger again. It sits there in the sky with the stars and sometimes even looks larger than usual, or a completely different color like orange-ish or sorta blue-tinted. There are eclipses, too. That's when the Earth's shadow falls on it for a little while and it turns blood red. I've only ever seen that once, but I got to watch the whole thing!

   *And since the moon is covered in craters, it kinda looks like there are things inside it, like a rabbit or a face, depending on who you ask.

   '... It's nice down here too, though. The surface sounds amazing and exciting, but down here... I don't know, it feels... complete somehow. Like there's a place for everything, and everything is perfectly happy in it's place.', you thought about what Undyne had said before taking the Snowdin kid (did you ever get their name?) away, which was exactly what happened before you came back to Napstablook's to calm down. '... most of the time, at least.'

   *That's my point! I don't wanna BE down here because there's not enough space, not enough life! I've already learned every nook and cranny of this place ages ago, I want to... CHANGE something! Up there, everything changes, down here, even after all these years, nothing has changed! I want to be bigger, I want to be stronger, I wanna kill something!

   '... _what?_ '

   *You heard me, didn't you? If I'd been able to kill something, someone, anyone at all! I would've been better, I could've been stronger, _we_ could've been stronger.... But it didn't work, and now- now you can't die, you just can't, you're too much like him!

   '... What are you talking about...?'

   *...

   *Ask me again later.

   You know that later means far away from wherever you are currently, so you decide to get up. The illusion snaps, and you're back in Napstablook's house. Napstablook got up as well.

   "Well, that was nice... Thank you."

   You filter out the rest of what he said. You agree, but at the same time, you don't.


	4. Hotlands

   You're kind of worried about them, but you have a friend. However, as is always the case, your other friends are a bigger issue. Like, seriously Alphys, you do not have to update your status every two minutes... or seconds! As well as, you know, people trying to kill you and take your soul. That's kind of serious and also still a thing. First it was just Asgore, but now you've encountered Undyne way more times than you like to think about, a crazy idol robot has been trying to murder you since you got to Hotlands, and you just narrowly escaped being spider chow! Oh, and did you mention that Sans apparently wanted you dead before you came through the door? Yeah... not a very consoling thing to know.

   You roll around under the blankets on the huge bed at the MTT Resort to try and get all these thoughts out of your head. It isn't working, and your friend most certainly isn't helping.

   *So are you gonna spend all day just rolling around in here? Seriously, we've got stuff to do!

   "Whatever."

   *I'm serious.

   "Answer some more questions then."

   *This has become a thing, hasn't it?

   "As far as I know, yes."

   *Alright, do you want to know more about the surface or something?

   "I want to know more about you."

   *Why?

   "Reasons."

   *Uuuggghhhh

   They totally had that one coming.

   *Fine. Ask your dumb questions.

   "How do you know so much about the underground."

   *Because I do.

   "That's no an answer."

   *Is too.

   "Let's not."

   *Yeah.

   "So, how do you know so much about the underground?"

   *I've been here before.

   "When?"

   *A long time ago.

   "How?"

   *What are you, stupid? I fell here, duh.

   "Oh, right... Why did you climb the mountain then?"

   *Because.

   "Because why?"

   *I wanted to.

   You don't like that answer, but you decide to move on anyway.

   "How long ago was it, that you came down here?"

   *No idea.

   "Really?"

   *Hey, I died ages ago, you expect me to keep track of how long I've spent in the afterlife before I ended up stuck with you?

   "I guess you have a point.", that made you think of a new question, "How did you die."

   You felt them tense.

   *Um, duh, I was killed.

   "... How?", part of you doesn't want to know.

   *If you don't wanna know, don't ask.

   "How-"

   *I have experience with body-sharing. Honestly, you're just like him.

   You feel like it would be a bad idea to ask who Him is. They'll probably tell you later... Hopefully.

 

   *Any other questions?

   "Um... yes."

   *What then?

   "What's your favorite color?"

   That one surprised them.

   *Um... yellow..?

   *Or it _was_ until the flower ruined it!

   "Heh, yeah."

   "More questions! What's your favorite food?"

   *Chocolate.

   "That's not a food!"

   *Can you eat it?

   "Well, yeah."

   *Then it's a food.

   You sigh.

   "Fine. Who's your favorite monster?"

   *Undyne's been less annoying than any of the others. Not to mention she's basically a world-class badass.

   "... Al... right..."

   *My turn.

   "What? You don't get to ask questions!"

   *Since when?

   You didn't have an answer for that.

   "Alright, alright, fine."

   *How old are you?

   You didn't have an answer for that one either. You know you're not an adult, everyone wouldn't be calling you 'kid' if you were an adult.

   "I... don't know..."

   *Seriously?

   "Yes seriously! I can't remember anything before you and those buttercups. Then we walked through the door and almost got killed, then we met Toriel, and now we eventually got here, being chased by some kind of homicidal robot."

   *Nice word.

   "My extensive vocabulary is entirely your fault."

   *You're welcome.

   *But I do believe we need to address your addled cranium.

   "I suppose we do."

   *Let's see... I'll say a random word and you say the first thing that pops into your head, then we'll go back and forth until you think of something.

   "Okay.", it wasn't like you had any better ideas.

   *Cold.

   "Snowdin."

   *Monkey.

   "What?"

   *Tree.

   "No, no, stop, what's a monkey?"

   They sighed.

   *It's an animal. It climbs around and swings from trees. Speaking of trees...

   "Stick."

   *Life.

   "Death."

   *And I thought I was the negative Nancy.

   "Whatever, next."

   *Before.

   "After."

   *Reset.

   "Continue."

   *Stay.

   "Go."

   You felt a strange shift, and when your mouth moved, you weren't the one speaking.

   "Here."

   *There.

   What was going on?

   "People."

   *Monsters

   "Humans."

   *Chara.

   "As-..."

   They stopped speaking and wrapped their-no, your arms around you-no, them.

   *Chara, what's going on?

   "Huh?"

   It was like both of you were coming out of a daze.

   *I can't-

   It was less of a shift and more of a snap this time.

   "-control my-... wait, I'm speaking. It's me."

   *I'm here too, you know.

   "Yeah, I know, but... it felt so weird not to control my body."

   *Now you know how I feel.

   "But this isn't your body."

   *Yeah, but imagine inhabiting a body that someone else had control over. Actually, no, don't imagine it, you already know.

   "Oh yeah, I guess you're right."

   *Can we move on yet? I don't want Mettaton crashing in through the wall... Again.

   "Neither do I."

   You left the hotel and continued travelling. Alphys's comment about the figures who aren't supposed to be there makes you worried and slightly suspicious, but you walk over to the core anyway.


	5. The Core

  You don't really know what to think anymore, but at least you have a friend. Alphys was in the other room, tending to Mettaton. You have to lean onto the wall for support due to pure shell-shock, but mostly also out of exhaustion. Alphys wouldn't lie to you. Why did she lie to you? She was always so nice. Why would she lie? Mettaton was okay, wasn't he?  The ozone smell was starting to leave the air, and you didn't feel too terribly Determined, since you practically killed someone and found out about Alphys. But... she was so concerned about Mettaton, you felt really guilty. He said he'd be okay... you hoped he was right.

   *... Hey.

   "What?"

   *You feel kinda hollow.

   "Yeah."

   *... They'll both probably live to be idiots for another da-

   "Stop saying that!"

   *... What?

   "Stop calling people idiots, and annoying, and dumb, and stupid, and whatever else you decide to think up! It's mean! It's not right!"

   *How do you even know what's right and wrong? Huh?

   "It's easy! It's the easiest thing in the world!", your exhaustion was making you a bit hysteric, "You just do the right thing! The thing that feels like it wouldn't hurt anyone, the thing that makes your friends happy, the thing that does good things! Haven't you learned anything from the past, what, three days?!", that estimate was probably completely wrong on multiple levels.

   *That's not how the world works!

   Okay,  _that's **it.**_

   "AND HOW DO YOU KNOW?! Tell me, NOW!"

   *Do you know how terrible people are? You literally just learned Alphys has been lying to you since the second you met her! Sans wanted you dead before you even got to the underground, ALL the monsters here are dangerous and have tried to kill you once. Mettaton _and_ Undyne have tried to kill you _multiple times_ , and Dad's most definitely gonna kill you at least a couple of times!

   "Dad...?"

   *... Shut up!

   *My point is, we need to move on! Start walking.

   "...No..."

   There's an instant of silence, and you expect Chara to start spitting venom at you when you hear the door opening behind you and quickly scamper forward a couple more feet before continuing down the hall to the elevator. You know who it is. You don't want to look at her.

   "S... sorry about that!", she warbled nervously. You hadn't realized it before, but she sounded broken... she'd always sounded broken. "L- let's k- keep going!"

   No...

   It's all you can do to put one foot in front of the other. You don't speak. You're afraid both you and Alphys will shatter to pieces if you say anything.

   "S-so you're about to meet Asgore, h-huh?"

   What do you think?

   "You must be... Y-you must be... pr-pretty excited about all that, huh?"

   No.

   "You'll f-f-finally... you'll finally get to go home!"

   She sounded about as enthusiastic about it as you felt. There wasn't even a home to go back to... maybe  _that_ was why you'd decided to climb MT. Ebott.

   A few more steps, and you finally got to the elevator. You tilt your head forward a bit, so your hair falls in front of your face. So Alphys can't see your expression. Or rather, lack of one.

   "W- wait!"

   Ask me to stay...

   She's silent. You wait her out.

   "I mean, um... I... I was just going to... um..."

   Please.

   "Say goodbye, and..."

   She trails off. You want to cry. She finally picks her sentence back up.

   "I can't take this anymore."

   You hear shuffling, and notice she's turned her back to you.

   "I lied to you."

   No. Really?

   "A human soul isn't strong enough to cross the barrier alone. It takes at least a human soul... And a monster soul."

   *I know.

   'Why didn't you-'

   Alphys turned back around. She looked so tired... and sad... and lonely. You think about Bratty and Catty, about Mettaton and Papyrus. She didn't have any reason to be like this. What was wrong? Why was she always lying? Even to herself, it seemed.

   "If you want to go home... you'll have to take his soul."

   Wait- wait no-

   "You'll have to kill Asgore."

   It hit you suddenly. You'd been thinking about Alphys, about yourself, about Chara and Mettaton and all the other monsters. You'd never thought about what you would do when-

   "I'm sorry."

   She'd turned around and started walking off as the thoughts had begun swirling in your head. No, correction, all your thoughts had come careening together. She scampered off before anything else could happen. You somehow managed to get into the elevator, where you collapsed as the doors closed behind you. You started bawling.

   *Stop...

   But you couldn't.

   *Quit it.

   It wasn't fair.

   *I'm serious.

   You didn't want to.

   *Frisk...

   You can't-

   *Stop it!

   It's not fair.

   *YOU BETTER STOP CRYING RIGHT NOW!

   "I DON'T WANNA!"

   The elevator came to a stop.

   "Please... I want Mom... I want-... I want-"

   *Too bad.

   "But-"

   *Too. Bad.

   *I don't know how you got here, but you're here, so you have to deal with it.

   You shudder through some more sobs before asking,

   "Can't I- can't I just... wait? I don't-... I don't want to leave here. I can't go just yet. I have to... I have to make sure Mettaton and Napstablook and everyone will be okay. I have to talk to Undyne, to tell Papyrus goodbye. I wanna hear Sans' bad puns and listen to Alphys spoil the entire plot of an anime. I have to... I..."

   You dissolve into a heap of pathetic whimpers as the elevator doors close once again. Chara is silent. You realized how exhausted all of this has left you, and everything fades to black.


	6. The Dump

   You are now incredibly frightened of them, but you have a friend. It's not really that you're outright scared of them, really, it's just that they are getting ridiculous. They literally gave you no other choice but to roleplay on a date, (which was unexpected in and of itself, you don't have to make it more absurd, Chara!) then proceeded to give you the most ridiculous prompts imaginable. They seemed to be having fun, though. Still, it was rather cringe-worthy when Undyne actually walked in on it. Chara seems immune to these sorts of things. On the contrary, they actually find it hilarious. Truly, this is a frightening creature that should not be taken lightly. Their mirthful joy at the complete insanity actually kind of made you happy, too. They actually seemed happier than they've ever been in the past, what, ten hours? Have you really only been in the actual underground for less than a day? Weird. It felt like weeks.

   You wander around the watery dump, wondering if you should find something else to do, when a question pops into your head.

   "Hey, Chara?"

   *Yeah?

   "What do you know about people, anyway?"

   *... What's that supposed to mean?

   "Well, you keep harping on about humans being terrible, and you said that all the monsters are kinda terrible, too. But... I don't really think that's true. Alphys... well, she's kind of a nervous wreck. She was lying because... because she didn't know what else to do. Undyne, well, she's actually kind of sweet, if a bit criminally insane and diluted about the truth. Same with Mettaton, but probably just a completely different mental case. Sans... okay, Sans is actually really creepy and I'm not completely sure what his deal is, but he's been nice enough, and he did keep his promise. Then there's Asgore... everyone keeps saying he's so sweet... "

   *He is. Sickeningly so.

   "Oh yeah, you'd know."

   *What's that supposed to mean?!

   " _Dad?"_

*Shut up!

   "Ha ha, well, I don't know why you know so much about Toriel and Asgore, or why you didn't tell me that... that I'd need a monster's soul. Why didn't you anyway?"

   *I... I'd sound really lame if I told you I forgot.

   "Seriously? You legitimately just... forgot?"

   *Yeah! And when I remembered... I don't know, I guess I just thought, 'Hey, I'm pretty sure we've got two human souls maybe, and if a human and monster soul could get through in one body, who's to say we can't do that without the monster soul!' But then I kind of realized that I'm... kind of... dead. Inherently without a soul. Not the best thing in the world, really.

   "Wait- what?"

   *You could say I'm a parasite, but you could also see it as a symbiotic relationship.

   "WAIT, so you're, like, sucking away my energy or something?!"

   *Do you even know how parasites work? A parasite attaches itself to a host and consumes nutrients from the host's body, but only enough to where the host does not die due to mal-nourishment that would meant the parasite doesn't have a host anymore.

   "Oh, so you're just weakening me significantly."

   *You never fight anyway.

   "Yeah, but-... oh, whatever."

   *Wow. No follow-up questions.

   "I've learned my lesson about follow-up questions with yo-"

   Your phone begins to ring. When you pull it out, Papyrus is speaking... rather nervously...

   "HOWDY!"

   He did NOT just say 'howdy'.

   "If it isn't my good friend, who trusts me."

   What the heck is that even supposed to mean!?

   "This is Papyrus. Your also mutual friend."

   Wait,  _mutual?_

   "Alphys and I finished our training early. Very early."

   He can't possibly be telling the truth. It is literally impossible for the words he's saying to be not a bold faced lie.

   "So I sent her home. Very home."

   Okay, now it's just getting ridiculous. (And kind of funny)

   "Uh... now. I feel strongly and for no apparent reason."

   You tell yourself to remind you to tell Papyrus to never attempt deceit again. he is simply the worst at it. Ever. Period.

   "You should also go... there. To her. Lab... house."

   *Who votes we  _don't_ do that?

   You raise your hand and both of you snicker internally as Papyrus continues to talk.

   "I have only good feelings about this."

   Papyrus, what did I just say?

   "Goodbye."

   He hangs up and it dawns on you a few seconds later that this is probably serious. Plus, the howdy and the 'mutual friend' thing was incredibly suspicious. You get the feeling a certain yellow flower was involved.

   *You're going, aren't you?

   "You know me so well."


End file.
